page_title: Château de Meudon
section_title: Louis XV and his children
hierarchical_section_title: Château de Meudon / History / 18th century / Louis XV and his children
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Veue du château de Meudon du côté des parterres. Gravure par Jacques Rigaud, 1733. Vue prise du parterre du Globe montrant le château Vieux et le château Neuf au début du XVIIIe siècle.
context_page_description: Meudon Castle, also known as the Royal Castle of Meudon or Imperial Palace of Meudon, is a French castle located in Meudon in the Hauts-de-Seine department. At the edge of a wooded plateau, the castle offers views of Paris and the Seine river, as well as of the valley of Chalais. Located between Paris and Versailles, in the heart of a hunting reserve, the castle has an ideal topography for large gardens. It had many successive owners from the Renaissance until the fall of the Second French Empire. It should not be confused with the Bellevue Castle, also located in Meudon.
  Famous past residents include: Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly, Duchess of Étampes; the Cardinal of Lorraine, Abel Servien; François Michel Le Tellier Marquis de Louvois, and Louis, Grand Dauphin, also known as Monseigneur, who linked the Chaville Castle to Meudon Castle. The Château-Vieux burned down in 1795 and was rebuilt as the Château-Neuf, which in turn burned down in 1871. Demolition was considered, but most of the castle was preserved and became an observatory with an astronomical telescope in 1878, it was then attached to the Observatory of Paris in 1927.
context_section_description: Le 27 septembre 1722, à la demande du jeune roi, le Maréchal de Villars vient à Meudon voir le fortin construit pour Louis XV, qui « lui parla souvent de son fort et le mena à toutes les attaques ». Rappelons que Louis XV était petit-fils de Monseigneur.
  On the 17th of April, 1723, the King went to Meudon, went through the apartments of the Chateau, and gave some orders for the stay which his Majesty was to go there to do. Indeed, from 4 June to 13 August 1723, Louis XV, the "Infante Reine", the Regent and the Court settled in Meudon for a month, time enough to restore Versailles to house the young sovereigns. On August 10, Cardinal William Dubois died at Versailles. "As soon as he was dead, the Duke of Orleans returned to Meudon to inform the King of this news, who begged him to take charge of all the conduct of affairs, declared him Prime Minister, and was sworn in on the following day" . Pierre-Denis Martin (1663-1742) painted for the king "A vision of Meudon in perspective that includes all the park and the castle, Monseigneur entering there."
  On December 14, 1725, the new queen Marie Leszczynska, who married Louis XV on September 4, came to visit Meudon for the first time.
  Finally, in September 1726, a royal edict brought together Meudon at the Crown Estate with the land that depended on it, with the exception of Chaville Castle and Park, and Castle and farm of Villacoublay. On this occasion, the arms of Le Tellier - azure, with three lizards of silver laid in pal, to the chief sewn Gules charged with three gold stars - which were still in place within the central pediment, are erased.
  In May 1733, at Versailles, a scene was set up between Louis XV and the governor of the castle of Meudon: Marquis de Pellevé,
  "Stay of the Children of France in Meudon in 1733.
  The sojourn of the children of France at Meudon was decided at the beginning of May, 1733, in an assembly of doctors held in Versailles, with regard to their health, the death of Madame The Duke of Anjou having frightened the others.
  Their journey was subsequently scheduled for the 21st of the same month and a few days before De Pellevé, Governor of this castle, speaking of their stay with M. le Cardinal de Fleury, told him that it would cause him some expense, and that he was persuaded that his Eminence wished And to treat him like his predecessor M. Hyacinthe de Gauréault Dumont had been there while the feu Roy remained there, and to grant him the same gratification.
  The cardinal replied that the king's affairs were not in a position to make such graces, which did not prevent him from taking the time that the cardinal was with the king to speak to him in the presence of His Majesty and His Eminence told him the same thing.
  He did not confine himself to these two rejections, he made the same request on the 21st, at the time when his Majesty was speaking to the duke Of Charot. The King replied that the matter was decided, which obliged him to cease. Only for a few moments: for he has again returned to the charge, and has represented to the King that he has interrupted a second time, the expense which he would be obliged to make, and the injustice which was done to him, His Majesty to tell the captain of his guards to take him out of his room. It was ordered to the officer of the guards who commanded Meudon not to let him enter the chamber of the Louis de France (1729-1765) or the ladies".
caption: View of the château of Meudon on the parterre side. Engraving by Jacques Rigaud, ca 1730.
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